Internal combustion engines, for example, diesel engines, gasoline engines, or natural gas engines employ turbochargers to deliver compressed air for combustion in the engine. A turbocharger compresses air flowing into the engine, helping to force more air into the combustion chambers of the engine. The increased supply of air allows increased fuel combustion in the combustion chambers of the engine, resulting in increased power output from the engine.
Because the turbocharger compresses air flowing into the engine, the turbocharger is typically mounted at a location on or near the engine. The turbocharger may include one or more mounting holes for receiving mounting bolts that mount the turbocharger at the mounting location.
One attempt to include mounting holes on the turbocharger is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,735 issued to Ruf et al. on Jan. 5, 1988 (“the '735 patent”). In particular, the '735 patent discloses a turbocharger including a turbine casing and a compressor housing that are each attached to a bearing housing. The bearing housing includes a flange, and a fastener attaches the flange of the bearing housing to a part that is fastened to the chassis of a motor vehicle.
Although the turbocharger disclosed in the '735 patent attempts to allow the turbocharger to be attached to the motor vehicle, the disclosed turbocharger may still be less than optimal. For example, the '735 patent does not disclose a device that allows the turbocharger to be lifted. Thus, personnel may attempt to attach a lifting device to the turbocharger, e.g., by forcefully engage the lifting device into the flange of the bearing housing, which may damage the flange during engagement and subsequent removal of the lifting device. Alternatively, personnel may attempt to attach a lifting device, such as straps, around the turbocharger, which may create an unsafe environment due to the risk that the straps may slip off the turbocharger.
The turbocharger of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.